Next week, as The Curtain, London, transforms into The Superyacht Marketing Forum, we will welcome Prof. Dr. Phil Klaus - widely considered one of the leading global Customer Experience Strategists – to impart his wisdom.

Founder of Dr. Phil Klaus & Associates Consulting, and Professor of Customer Experience and Marketing Strategy at the International University of Monaco, he is also the bestselling author of the book, ‘Measuring Customer Experience – How to Develop and Execute the Most Profitable Customer Experience Strategies,’ and there are three things he would like our industry to know.

SuperyachtNews spoke to Prof. Klaus about what our delegates can expect from his closing keynote (5 pm – 6 pm) on Day One of The Superyacht Marketing Forum, (Tuesday 3rd December), which we can now verify is set to be a wake-up call regarding the ways in which the superyacht industry approaches customer experience.

“One thing I always hated in marketing/customer management, no matter what industry, is that there always seemed to be a silver bullet from a consultant that ‘works very well’, however, it only works very well for a certain period of time. I was so frustrated with this that I became a scientist, because only scientists were able to provide me with solutions that were rigorous, longitudinal, unbiased – simply: the truth,” began Prof. Klaus.

"The major trend that we have seen in the last thirty years is that the challenges of customer experience are equal – no matter what industry you are looking at, and UHNW customers are no different" - Prof. Dr. Phil Klaus

“What I believe more managers need to hear is the truth, and the truth about customer experience is – it’s a messy thing. There’s no ‘one size fits all’, no silver bullet, not one measurement that you should use,” Prof. Klaus continued. “The major trend that we have seen in the last thirty years is that the challenges of customer experience are equal – no matter what industry you are looking at, and UHNW customers are no different. They are human beings with values, needs and emotions – all you need to figure out is what is the experience and how can you deliver the experience that people desire.

“In luxury, and in the superyacht industry, in particular, the first thing I ask companies is ‘How do you manage and deliver your customer experience?’, and the number one statement we always hear is ‘We would like to exceed the customer’s expectations’. When you go into the luxury sector it seems you get a secret codebook for customer management and phrase number one is ‘Exceed your customers' expectations’.

"When you go into the luxury sector it seems you get a secret codebook for customer management and phrase number one is ‘Exceed your customers' expectations’... Compared to other industries, the luxury industry is in the stone age in terms of customer experience" - Prof. Dr. Phil Klaus

Prof. Klaus believes there are two things fundamentally wrong about this statement, which he will delve into at The Superyacht Marketing Forum next week, whereby his session will fall into three parts. Delegates will find out why customer experience/management fails, what the crucial link between customer experience and profitability is, and will be given key pieces of information on how to execute this properly.

“Compared to other industries, the luxury industry is in the stone age in terms of customer experience – in particular, everything that caters to UHNWI’s,” concluded Prof. Klaus, and as future superyacht owners will most likely be able to compare this to other services they receive, their customer experience within the superyacht sphere must keep up with other industries.

Join us at The Curtain, London, from 3rd – 4th December here, to find out how…

Follow Prof. Klaus and all sessions at The Superyacht Marketing Forum on Twitter here:

@ProfDrPhilKlaus #IUM

@SuperyachtForum #MakeYourMark

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